Consumer Buying Behavior

Chapter 6
Devy Schonfeld
 Housekeeping
 Turn off your cell phones an put them away; Put your Name Cards out.
 Let’s review Assignment 1 – Due March 10th in class
 We will have a quiz on March 8th. Covers Chapters 3 and 4. There is no make-up for
quizzes or exams
 Guest Speaker Arturo Litwak will be here on March 10th.
 Exam 1 is March 22nd. It will cover Chapters 1-8 (incl). Open book; no technology; will
not cover my notes.
– You will need a #2 Pencil and a Scantron
– There is no make-up for exams!
 On March 8th I am going to cover elevator pitches and Marketing Plans (not textbook
content)
 Assignment 1

• Suggestions for success:

Look at all the material before beginning
Review the grading rubric and sample assignments carefully.
Choose something you are truly interested in
Starta portfolio of your work –you can use this for internships
and job interviews.
 Consumer
Buying https://study.com/academy/lesson/wha
Behavior Video t-is-consumer-buying-behavior-definition-
types-quiz.html
 “Buying Behavior” Defined
 Decision processes and actions of people involved in buying and using
products
 What do marketers mean when they talk about “consumer buying
behavior”?
– Buying behavior of ultimate consumers
– What affects a consumer’s desire to buy?
– What are the key influences?
• Situational
• Psychological
• Social
 Not all decision processes lead to a purchase
Buying Decision Process and Possible Influences on the Process

Not all consumer decisions include all five stages!!!!!

Textbook Figure 6.1
 Problem Recognition – need new car
• Consumer has owned the his
current car for 10 years. (Situational
Influence)
• Currently owns an Mercedes C55
AMG. (Psychological Influence)
• Did well at work last year, has
extra disposable income.
(Psychological Influence)
• Mercedes is breaking down a lot.
(Situational Influence)
• His friends and co-workers are
buying new cars. (Situational and Social
Influence)
 Information Search
• Internal Search:
•
•
What do I want?
What do I need?
How to
Marketers
• What do I like?
• What have I seen that I have liked in the past few
years?

Influence
• External Search:
•
•
Online
Visits dealerships
this process?
• Talks to friends
• Reads reviews
• Test drives
 Evaluation of Alternatives
 Consideration set:
– Group of brands within a
product category that a
buyer views as possible
alternatives
• What are some?

 Evaluative criteria:
– Objective and subjective
product characteristics that
are important to a buyer
• What are they?
 Post-Purchase Evaluation
 Cognitive dissonance:
– Doubts in buyer’s mind
about whether decision to
buy certain product was
right
• Cause - Purchase of Good marketers
expensive, high- manage this part of
involvement product the chain effectively!
lacking desirable features WHY?
of competing brands HOW?
• Lessened by contacting
recent customers
regarding the purchase
 Identify the Stage
In which stage of the consumer buying decision process is each of the following people?
1. A recent college graduate reads Consumer Reports to compare automobile ratings.
2. On the first day of class, a student finds out that a programmable calculator is needed for the course, but she
doesn’t own one.
3. After purchasing an evening gown, a woman decides that it is not quite appropriate for her special occasion.
4. A teenager compares numerous MP3 players and narrows the choice down to two players.
5. While on the way to work, a person’s automobile stalls and doesn’t start again.
6. At an open-house party, a guest realizes that the host already owns the gift he plans to give.
7. A person receives a sample package of laundry detergent in the mail and uses it to wash a load of clothes.
 Level of Involvement
Are these products high or low
 Degree of interest in a product involvement?
and the importance the
individual places on that
product
– High-involvement products:
visible to others and are expensive
– Low-involvement products:
less expensive and have less
associated social risk
 Consumer Decision Making

Routinized response behavior

• Buying frequently purchased, low-cost items that require very little search-
and-decision effort. Examples?
Limited decision making
• Purchasing products occasionally or from unfamiliar brands in a familiar
product category. Examples?
Extended decision making
• Occurs with high-involvement, unfamiliar, expensive, or infrequently-
purchased items. Examples?
Impulse buying
• No conscious planning and stems from a powerful urge to buy something
immediately. Examples?
Discussion Point - Low-
Involvement Products
• Soft drinks are low-involvement products
because they are inexpensive and purchased
frequently. When buying soft drinks,
consumers usually employ routinized response
behavior.
• Do you think the level of involvement changes
with consumer income level for some products?
• What else might impact consumer purchase
behavior?
 In Class Activity
Look at the scenarios below. After each one, write how your group would respond to the
purchase situation.
1. At work you are informed there is a “Secret Buddy” gift buying program for the holiday party. Each person’s name is entered
into a hat and each person will draw one name. You choose the name of a person who works in another department that you do
not know. Questions to ask: What type of gift do you purchase? How much do you spend? How much time do you take choosing this gift?

2. In the mail you receive an invitation to a favorite cousin’s surprise birthday party. You will not be able to attend, so you decide
to send a gift. Questions to ask: What type of gift would you send? How much do you spend? How much time do you take choosing this
gift?

3. You got engaged recently and have received an invitation to your future spouse’s mother’s birthday party. This will be the first
family party you attended. Questions to ask: What type of gift do you bring? How much do you spend? How much time did you take
choosing this gift?

4. You eat a turkey sandwich for lunch every day. You are at the grocery store to buy bread and turkey. There is a new brand of
turkey prominently displayed at the end of the shelf. Questions to ask: Would you spend more? How much time would you spend
making this decision?
 Classification of Situational Factors
How you buy is based on the situation you are in!

Situational Factors

Physical Social Reason Momentary

Time
surrounding surrounding for mood and
perspective
purchase condition

Location, Interaction with Holidays, You, gift, physical How do you feel at
Atmosphere, Sound, others, sales people, convenience, end- need, mood boost the particular
Light, Layout “like you” caps moment
 Psychological Influences – YOU!
 Partly determine people’s general behavior and influence their
behavior as consumers
– Strongly affected by external social and cultural forces
 Consumer behavior based psychological influences
– Perception – what does this product mean to me, how to I experience it,
how do I feel about it?
– Motives – Intensity of behavior (hunger!), what will it do for me?
– Learning – Changes in an individual’s thought process based on info.
– Attitudes and personality – longer-term feeling about the product in
general
– Self-concept and lifestyles – A view of yourself, and how you live
 Perception
 Process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning
 Information inputs: Sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell, and touch
 Perception process
– Selective exposure: Selecting some sensory inputs and ignore others
– Perceptual organization: Organizing and integrating new information with what is stored
in memory
– Interpretation: Assigning meaning to what has been organized
 Selective Exposure
Selective distortion
• Changing or twisting of information
that is inconsistent with personal
feelings or beliefs (political beliefs,
ideology)

Selective retention

• Remembering information inputs that

support personal feelings and beliefs
and forgetting inputs that do not
 Motive
 Internal energizing force that directs a person’s activities toward
satisfying needs or achieving goals
– Physical feelings, states of mind, or emotions
 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Humans seek to satisfy five levels of
needs from most to least basic to survival
 Patronage motives: Influence which establishments a customer
frequents
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Learning

 Changes in thought processes and behavior caused by information and

experience
 Consequences of behavior influences learning behavior
 Customers learn about products through experience
– Indirect experience - Salespeople, advertisements, websites, friends, and
relatives
 Attitude
 Enduring evaluation of feelings about and behavioral tendencies
toward an object or idea
 Develops toward something that is:
– Tangible or intangible
– Living or nonliving
 Acquired through:
– Experience
– Interaction with other people
 Personality

 Internal traits and behavioral tendencies resulting in consistent

patterns of behavior in certain situations
 Influences types and brands of products purchased
– Marketers aim advertising for specific personality types
 Self concept: Perception or view of oneself
– Buyers purchase products that reflect and enhance their self-concepts
– Purchase decisions are important to the development and maintenance of
a stable self-concept
 MBTI
 Lifestyle

 Individual’s pattern of living expressed through:

– Activities
– Interests
– Opinions
 Influences:
– Consumers’ product needs
– Brand preferences
– Choice of media
– How and where indiviudal shop
 Types of Social Influences
Social influences: Forces other people exert on one’s buying
behavior

• Actions and activities performed based on

Roles expectations of the individual and surrounding
persons

• Directly impact consumer buying decision process

Family influences • Consumer socialization: Acquiring the knowledge
and skills to function as a consumer

• A group that a person identifies with so strongly

Reference groups that he or she adopts the values, attitudes, and
behavior of group members
 Types of Social Influences
• Imagine that you are going out tonight. Which of the following social
influences will determine what you wear, where you go, what you do,
and what you will buy or consume?

• You want to pick a movie to see this weekend

• You are interested in trying a new restaurant for a date?

• Have any of you been in other cultures where you saw people doing things that
would never be accepted in the United States or vice versa?
Examples of Opinion Leaders and Topics
 Best Buy Video Analysis
 Target market and segmentation?
 What did they learn about consumer buying behavior?
 What type of purchase decision happens at Best Buy (routine,
extended..)
 What type of situational forces apply to women shoppers?
 What are the psychological forces?
– perception
– motive
– learning
– attitude and personality
– self-concept and lifestyle